Levels of engagement at work are continually low and declining in some parts of the world. Elite consulting jobs have been described as “tedious,” “uninspiring,” work in which people are told “exactly how to do things.” Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that Amazon warehouse workers are treated “worse than robots” — running to fill orders and skipping bathroom breaks as they are monitored by electronic surveillance. Evidence of rising work intensification in many countries has been backed up by the media, including stories about the effect of “greedy jobs” on women, as well as popular books that bemoan demotivating work, and that identify the huge toll stressful work has on communities internationally.
Why Managers Design Jobs to Be More Boring Than They Need to Be
Researchers believe that the lack of engagement, burnout, and dissatisfaction many employees are experiencing worldwide is a result of poorly designed work. When work is well-designed, workers have interesting tasks, autonomy over those tasks, a meaningful degree of social contact with others, and a tolerable level of task demands: reasonable workloads, clear responsibilities, and manageable emotional pressures. But when work is poorly designed, jobs can become intolerable and demotivating — particularly jobs in which the tasks are repetitive and tightly controlled (take Amazon warehouse conditions, for example). Organizations can help create meaningful, motivating, and stress-free work for their employees by educating the people responsible for assigning work.